freak show

noun

1. a display of people or animals with unusual or grotesque physical features, as at a circus or carnival sideshow.
2. any ludicrous, bizarre, or dehumanizing occasion, function, performance, etc.; grotesque, circuslike event:

   endless interviews and auditions that became a ridiculous freak show.

Word History and Origins

Origin of freak show¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

In 2024, Democrats are making a similar argument but more forcibly: They’re pointing, laughing and dismissing Trump and his circus as a total freak show to which we can’t return.

From Salon

The Republican freak show has gathered in Milwaukee this week to canonize and coronate Donald Trump, fresh off his felony conviction and a recent assassination attempt.

From Salon

With Mr Trump, “it would be a freak show… no warden would allow it”, he said.

From BBC

The food was “inedible”; the harassing guards viewed her as “a freak show to liven their shift.”

From Slate

Rolling Stone reports that they're planning to turn the January 6 trial into a "MAGA freak show" based on the infamous Chicago 7 disruption strategy.

From Salon